[Op_Ed] Happy Independence, Amb. Yahaya Seriki

By Abdulkareem Alabi, ESQ

There is a video making the rounds tonight. It’s the former Senate President Dr. Bukola Saraki paying a courtesy visit to Ambassador Abdulfatah Yahaya Seriki-Gambari at the headquarters of Kursi Group.

On the surface, it looks ordinary, but anyone who understands the poisonous political atmosphere that has defined Kwara politics since 2019 knows that there is absolutely NOTHING ordinary about that video.

Seriki and Saraki currently belong to different political persuasions. Not too long ago, a meeting like this would have been treated as a political abomination in the political school where Seriki operated.

That is why tonight deserves to be called INDEPENDENCE DAY!

Since Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq emerged as Governor in 2019, Kwara politics has become increasingly bitter, divisive and unforgiving. Political disagreement has too often been treated as personal enmity. Old relationships have broken down. Friends have become enemies. Families have been dragged into political quarrels. Community bonds have been strained.

And nowhere has this politics of permanent hostility been more pronounced than in the relationship between the Abdulrazaqs and the Sarakis.

The political culture around the Abdulrazaq establishment has frequently appeared to demand not merely disagreement with the Sarakis, but outright hostility towards them. Loyalty has too often been measured by how loudly one attacks Saraki and how viciously one does it.

In that political ecosystem, moderation could be interpreted as disloyalty, civility could become suspicious and friendship across political lines could amount to betrayal.

That is why the likes of Sai Kai became useful political attack dogs in this ruinous system. For the Abdulrasaqs the more vicious the attack, the more convincing the demonstration of loyalty. Attacking the Sarakis became almost a rite of passage for anyone seeking acceptance within the dominant political establishment.

So, that Senator Bukola Saraki would walk freely into Amb. Yahaya Seriki’s corporate headquarters, without any political hystera, without any fear of who might be offended, is almost unimaginable!

Even Seriki would never have imagined that such a day would come where he wouldn’t have to prove loyalty to anybody for simply hosting a personality like Bukola Saraki. Just two illustrious sons of Kwara sitting together despite their political differences.

That is the real story tonight.

For Seriki, this meeting symbolises something much bigger than a courtesy visit. It looks like political independence. The Seriki of yesterday, operating under the suffocating politics of Abdulrasaq political overlordship, might have thought twice before receiving Saraki so openly.

But tonight, Seriki appears to have broken those chains. He can meet Saraki. He can remain in a different political camp from Saraki. And he does not have to hate Saraki to prove his loyalty to anybody.

He has crossed the Red Sea. He has escaped and rejected the politics of compulsory hatred. He has discovered that political opponents do not have to become mortal enemies. He has discovered that politics does not require anyone to surrender his friendships, relationships, dignity or humanity.

That is freedom.

Nigeria celebrated its 66th Independence Anniversary yesterday, October 1. Today, October 2, Ambassador Yahaya Seriki-Gambari appears to be celebrating his own symbolic political independence.

Yesterday was Nigeria’s Independence Day. Today is Seriki’s political Independence Day.

So tonight, we say: HAPPY INDEPENDENCE, AMBASSADOR YAHAYA SERIKI-GAMBARI!

Welcome to the politics of freedom. Welcome to politics without bitterness. Welcome back to the old Kwara where brothers could disagree politically in the afternoon and still sit together in the evening. And perhaps, just perhaps, Kwara politics is beginning to breathe again.